News

Women’s Soccer Team Opens MIAA Campaign With 5-0 Win Over Trine

Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Calvin women’s soccer team opened up conference play Thursday afternoon at Zuidema Field against the Thunder of Trine. After a less than exciting first half, the Knights exploded for four goals in the second to take the MIAA opener 5-0.

Calvin’s first goal came less than ten minutes into the match on a great run by freshman Paige Capel (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) down the sideline and into the box set up senior Liz Cancel (St. Clair Shores/Fraser HS) for the one-touch goal. The Knights continued to pressure the Trine defense, tallying 15 shots in the first half, but could not add to their 1-0 lead.

Trine’s best opportunity of the game came with time winding down in the opening half as a Thunder forward got out on a breakaway with under ten seconds left in the half. Charging out was junior keeper Ashton Hearn (Port Huron Northern HS), but the Trine attacker’s shot slipped past Hearn and was headed toward net before freshman Jaime Verbal kicked it out of the mouth of the goal as the horn sounded.

In the 57th minute, Calvin scored its second goal of the match as junior Heidi Scholten (Hudsonville/Unity Christian HS) was in the right place at the right time for a tap in in the middle of the box.

Just over a minute later, junior Kelly Koets (Grandville/Calvin Christian HS) extended the Knights’ lead with another goal, this off a cross from sophomore Elle Burman (Jenison/Unity Christian HS).

In the 72nd minute, Koets found herself on the passing end of a goal as she found Cancel in the middle. Cancel put a shot on net that deflected off a defender and past the Trine keeper and into the goal. The goal put Calvin up 4-0 and was Cancel’s second of the game and of the season.

With five minutes to play, the Knights scored their final goal of the match as junior Danielle Carter (DeWitt/DeWitt HS) headed a cross into the back of the net to set the final score at 5-0.

Overall, Calvin took 27 shots, forcing Trine keeper Sloan Davis into five saves and scoring five goals. Hearn was forced into just one save for the Knights in 75 minutes of play before freshman keeper Leesha Gunnink (Denver, CO/Denver Christian HS) came in and played the final 15 minutes.

“I thought we started out slowly, we were not as efficient as we had been,” said head coach Mark Recker. “I thought (we) started to find a better rhythm in the second half, (we) started to move the ball better in the second half, and we were a bit more effective and productive as a result.”

The win moves Calvin’s record to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in MIAA play while dropping the Thunder to 1-3-1 and 0-1 in conference. Calvin returns to action next week Wednesday when it will travel to Alma to face the Scots.